April has been proclaimed as Oral Health Month by the Ontario Oral Health Alliance, the ideal time to talk about the need for everyone in this country to have access to affordable dental care.

Currently, Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP) covers health care for every part of a person’s body, except teeth and gums. A recent study by Public Health Ontario found that one in five Ontarians does not visit a dentist because they cannot afford it. The cost of oral health services and/or lack of private coverage can significantly deter many local residents from obtaining proper, regular dental care. As a result, thousands of people in this province suffer with pain and infection from poor oral health.

The United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes (UWCKL) has announced that the Community Care Health and Care Network is the recipient of a $5,000 grant from the Telecare Mona Hall Fund. The funds will be used to help Community Care create a free teleconference caregiver support program, based on a successful pilot project.

Penny Barton Dyke, Executive Director for UWCKL said, “The funds will be dedicated to setting up a communication support system to assist families who are caring for a relative or friend. Community agencies and partners have seen significant increases in the number of families taking on the role of informal care providers for a family member in their home and the prediction is this role will increase with our aging population.”

It’s the time of year when we look ahead just a few weeks to the Christmas season. For many people, it’s a ‘warm and fuzzy’ exercise as they anticipate family gatherings and meals accented with laughter, merriment and reflections of their blessings. It’s not necessarily so for everyone, however.

As much as the holiday season can be heartwarming and positive for some, it also a very ‘blue’ time for others who may be without family and friends. Stress of the holidays can combine with circumstances that trigger sadness and melancholy instead of happiness and positive moods. Not everybody looks forward to the holidays, especially if it means being alone.

Health care services continue to be available at the Woodville Medical Centre, thanks to a collaborative effort between the Community Care Health & Care Network and the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team.

Following the departure of Dr. Muhammed Khan from his practice at the Woodville Medical Centre at the end of October, the two organizations have stepped up to meet the health care needs of Woodville residents through an interim arrangement until March 31, 2019.

There’s certainly been a large amount of attention paid to the Province’s decision to end the Basic Income Pilot program early next year, rather than seeing the plan through fully to its original three-year time period. As one of three Ontario communities selected for the program, the City of Kawartha Lakes has hundreds of residents currently receiving the guaranteed income payments.

Recently, members of Community Care’s health care team met with two clients who are Basic Income recipients. We heard their stories of how the program was making a bit of a positive difference for them and their families. Their willingness to share their stories was appreciated.

At first glance, the numbers are overwhelming, until you pause to think about them. It is estimated that in North America, one out of every four households provides caregiving – millions of people taking on care services for a relative or friend over the age of 50.

With our aging population, more and more people find themselves in situations that they may never have imagined. Almost half of those identified as caregivers in our society are also raising their own family simultaneously, and two-thirds work either full- or part-time. The added pressure and stress of caregiving responsibilities are not easy to handle.

The support offered by many of the programs available through the Community Care Health & Care Network are self-explanatory and obvious. On closer examination, however, the case can be made that just as many of our services have multiple benefits. Case in point this month: our Adult Day Program for seniors and people with special needs.

One of the organization’s longest-running programs, Adult Day Program is offered multiple times each week at several locations throughout the municipality. Adult Day provides clients with a range of social, physical and recreational activities that are designed to meet the unique needs of each participant.

The numbers are staggering. Over 700,000 Rohingya refugees, many of them children and women, have taken shelter in Bangladesh to escape wholesale slaughter, rape, and burning of their villages in Myanmar — systematic violence that the United Nations has described as as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

The descriptions of their conditions are moving. Read, for example, this, from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHRC) website: “They have walked for days through jungles and mountains, or braved dangerous sea voyages across the Bay of Bengal . . . Monsoon and cyclone season has arrived . . . Thousands of refugees will face grave risk of landslides and floods.”

Keeping seniors in their homes for as long as possible is not the work of any one, single community group. Even Community Care Network – with its 9,000 clients across Kawartha Lakes – can’t do it alone. That’s why Mike Puffer, communications officer for Community Care Health and Care Network, says he likes to stress the word ‘network’ when it comes to all that they do. It takes a whole community to meet the needs of seniors, he says, especially when the work is centred on ensuring as much independence for people as possible, or ‘aging in place.’

From the Kawartha Lakes Health Coalition On April 18 this year The Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) posted a notice in … More

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The Lindsay Advocate is an online news magazine for Lindsay, Ontario, Canada, focused on the social and economic wellness of the town. While we cover most aspects of community life, we have a particular interest in poverty reduction.